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| International Women’s Day 2019: Make it happen | | Women in the field of information technology!!! | | Dr. Pragya Khanna | 3/7/2019 11:21:08 PM |
| All over the globe, International Women's Day symbolizes an outlook to commemorate the achievements of women while calling for greater equality. The celebration of this day is very pertinent and significant encouraging effective action for advancing and recognising women.
While there have been many achievements made by women in diverse fields since first International Women's Day was held in 1911, however, there are some arenas where many serious gaps still remain. It is thought that empowerment can be successful only if social and cultural differences between men and women are overcome and discriminatory laws are tackled in order to guarantee a greater participation of women in every sector of society. One such field is of ICT.
Computing remains a heavily male-dominated field even after three decades of extensive efforts to promote female participation.
Information technology may be a sector where a quarter of the total workforce comprises women, but when it comes to representation at the top the figure is abysmally low. Only one in every 10 senior management positions is occupied by a woman in the Indian IT sector , perceived to be a preferred destination for female employees .
What is alarming is that a large number of women dropped out of the IT industry due to various reasons at a crucial time of their careers. The research said that while 22% of women left their jobs because of family reasons, 27% of them quit while taking care of their children and 32% of women have not come back to the IT sector because there were no suitable employment opportunities for them. Other reasons given by women for dropping out were child birth, pursuing alternative career interests, taking a hiatus and some chronic illness.
Women especially in developing countries shoulder more familial responsibilities than men due to cultural norms.
o Women are not readily available during irregular hours at work.
o Women cannot travel long-distances again due to their multiple roles in the family.
o Women cannot keep up with the competitive IT field and the rapid change in technology.
o Women perform 'less' than men due to their family roles.
o How can women ensure more women represent the IT field?
Gender issues in IT may begin as early as middle school. According to another AAUW Educational Foundation study, many girls find computer work tedious, sedentary, and anti-social (Tech-Savvy, 2000). Through high school, girls are less likely than boys to enroll in computer science classes, and the disparity increases in more advanced classes. ITAA data show that women earned only 22% of all computer science and engineering undergraduate degrees in 2000, a figure that has not changed since 1998 despite the rapid growth in the technology field (and commensurate employment opportunities).
For the deeply-technical women who are reading this and seething already, let me ask you something. When you go out in the non-technical world and interact with the female masses, what reaction do you get when you say that you spend your free time writing code, or breaking into networks? Be honest. You get a lack of comprehension. You get sidelong glances wondering why you're "weird". Notice that there are no men involved in that equation. That's the society we have right now, and whether it's nature or cultural programming the result is the same: the number of women in the world who love the geek life is a tiny fraction that of men.
And it's the same for many professions where there are precious few women. Look at Wall Street traders. They stand up and scream for hours at a time in a highly competitive environment. If you simply ask around you'll find that these are things that most women just don't like to do.
Information and Technology is changing the expectations, responsibilities and competencies of 'Women in IT'. Professionalism does not mean wearing the best clothes and your ability to network with people. The inability to handle certain job situations or tasks was often regarded as not being professional. This can be due to various factors including 'your capability' to do the job. The social norms and familial expectations should be kept in mind in achieving professionalism. Women need to have expert knowledge and certain characteristics and competencies to be professional. The expectations in an IT company vary day by day. Professionalism by women in IT should be handled wisely using some of the following tips below:
o Women in IT need excellent presentation and communication skills.
o Women should find ways to improve self-confidence and be less emotional while handling job issues.
o Women are accountable of what they do, so be an active team player in the project that you are assigned.
o Women in IT need excellent business writing skills for electronic communication in particular.
o The way women in IT interact with the people, including your gestures will add to your professionalism
o Women should dress to keep up with the 'corporate culture'
o Improve your qualifications and competencies. This would probably provide you more opportunities, responsibilities and financial gain.
o Manage your time more efficiently. Women in IT need excellent time management skills as you might have to balance, work life, married life, partner life, community life and your social life along with the corporate life.
o Establish your professionalism in whatever you do.
o Make yourself clear on what your job entails and explain to your boss what you can contribute to the IT company. Insecurity on the first few months is natural.
o Learn from your mistakes. Failure is the stepping stone to success. You may make mistakes when you do the IT job for the first time.
o Learn from the people who criticize you.
o Learn to accept mistakes that you made in the IT environment. Take responsibility of your actions and outcomes.
o Make yourself clear and let your colleagues know what you cannot do.
o Measure your outputs on a weekly basis/ reflect on what you achieved on a weekly basis. Reflect what you could not achieve on a daily basis.
o Support, mentor and guide other women in your team or any women who is willing to do take the IT profession.
o Be vocal. This is crucial in the man's world. Your 'voice and opinions' should be 'noted' by your colleagues. It is natural to see people ignoring you for the first 2-3 months in the job, when you join. Later when they realize your potential you 'will be heard'.
o Develop leadership and negotiation skills on the road ahead.
o Be willing to help other team members in the IT projects and be the role player.
o Make sure you have a strong ambition and you have to develop the creative thinking abilities.
o Your commitment to the IT job and being an 'exceptional woman' in IT is crucial to achieve 'excellence'.
o Be willing to keep yourself in tune with the ever changing IT field. Embrace the use of new technologies.
o You can make the argument that society forced women to dislike these things via chauvinist programming, and I agree this is probably happening as well, but science is increasingly showing that you can take very young boys and girls (even of other primate species, evidently) and they will pick certain tasks or play-styles above others right down the gender line-trucks vs. dolls, etc.
Envision a world where each woman and girl can exercise her choices, such as participating in politics, getting an education, having an income, and living in societies free from violence and discrimination. |
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